Variable-speed gear.



No. 686,471. Patented Nov. l2, 19m.

J. m. ouan & M. WADDELL.

VARIABLE SPEED GEAR.

(Application filed Oct. 1, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES JOSEPH OUGH, oFsAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA,

, ,WL4DDELL,"OF NEW YORK, N. Y;

PATENT OFFICE.

AND MONTGOMERY "VARIABLE-SPEED GEAR.

'SPEGIFICATIQN formingpart of Letters Patent No. 686,471, dated November 1 2, 1901.

v j Application filed October 1, 1900. Serial No. 31,728- (No model.)

To all'whom it may concerm Be it knownthat we, JOsEPH M. OUGH, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of San'Franciscm'in the county of San Francisco and State of California, and MONT- GOMERY WADDELL, asubject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have jointly invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Variable-Speed Gear, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates to improved planetary gearing. v

a The principal object of our invention is to produce a light and compact planetary gearing wherein a driving element of uniform speed in one direction can be made to impart a variable speed to the driven member capable of increase or decrease by comparatively gradual steps from a standstill to full speed, and this may be accomplished without using slidable clutches for connecting and disconnecting any of the parts of the device. Our improved gearing also permits of reversal of movement in the driven member without a corresponding change in the driving member. These two capacities of our gearing render it particularly useful in the driving of motor- Vehicles, many of which employ forms of driving-motors which cannot conveniently be accelerated, retarded, or reversed.

The absence of slidable clutches from our construction avoids all difficulty arising from stoppage of parts in such a relative position as will not admit of the throwing of the clutch without forward or backward movement. This is a difficulty frequentlymet with.

Our device is very compact and is arranged to be operated by the use of a single brakelever at once, thus obviating the disadvantages incident to the use of those devices wherein two or three adjustments of-parts are necessary for each change in mode of operation.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section of our gearing- Fig. 2 is a face View of the expansion-grip used with our device. Fig. 3 is a section of our device, one half on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 and the other half on the line 3 3 at 16, 17, 18, and 19 in Fig. 1.

drum 3 a flexible expansion-band 20 lies, to

therein; and Fig. 4 is a section of our device on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

The shaft 1 is driven by any convenient prime mover, and the pinion 2 is keyed to said shaft, so as to always turn with it.

Our complete device presents the exterior aspect of a cylinder of uniform diameter. This cylinder is transversely divided into four separately-rotatable drums 3, 4, 5, and 6. The first three of these carry internal gears of successively smaller diameter from left to right. The fourth drum 6 carries no gear,,but may be employed at will for reversing purposes in a manner hereinafter described.

The shaft 1 carries a transmitting-sleeve 7, so called because it always serves to transmit motion to the sprocket 8. or other driven element. A number of axes 9 are carried by a disk-formed extension 10 of the transmitting-sleeve 7 and are supported at their free end by the auxiliary bearing-disk 11. These axes turn in the bearing-disk and in the disk 10, and each axis carries three fast pinions 12, 13, and 14, successively smaller from left to right. The pinions 12 engage with the teeth within the internal gear in the drum 3. The pinions 13 engage both with the drivingpinion 2' and with the internal gear of the drum 4. The pinion 14 is on the side of the supporting-disk 10 opposite to 12 and 13. It engages with the internal gear on the drum 5 and with the reversing crown-gear 15, sleeved upon the sleeve 7. The drum 6 is screwed or otherwise made fast upon a hub or extension of the reversing-gear 15,as shown.

Each one of the four drums is surrounded by its own strap-brake, whereby it may be held tightly and prevented from rotation independently of the others. Thesebrakes may be of any well-known form and are indicated Within the one end of which is pivoted the operating-lever 21, whose short end is adapted to press upon the opposite end of the band 20 when said lever is tipped in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2. This pressure causes expan sion of the band 20 within the drum 3 and locks said drum to the shaft 1 by means of the arm 22 and keyed hub 23. The tipping of the lever 21 is accomplished by the beveled collar 24:, which can he slid back and forth under said lever 21 by means of the handle 25, thus locking and unlocking the drum 3.

In operation the shaft 1 and pinion 2 impart to the pinion 13 a rotative motion either on its own axis or around the center of the shaft 1, or both. The movement is necessarily shared by pinions 12 and 14. Supposing all the brakes to be loose, the pinions 12, 13, and 14 will revolve idly, and with them the gears with which they mesh. If now the brake 18 be tightened, the gear 14, being forced to turn, will travel along the inside of the gear on the drum 5 and the sleeve 7 will be quite slowly turned in the same direction as the shaft 1. Releasing the brake 18 and tightening on the brake 17 will cause precisely similar action between pinion'lo and the gear on the drum 4; but this pinion being slightly larger in proportion to said internal gear the speed of rotation of the sleeve 7 and sprocket 8 willbe greater. To obtain a second increase of speed, the brake 16 is tightened and the pinion 12 comes into play. By locating this pinion on the side of the driving-pinion 2 opposite to the sleeve 7 there is enough room to use a pinion large enough to obtain a speed considerably greater than that obtained from pinions 13 and 14 and not very far removed from full speed. This is due to the fact that there is no sleeve or other part to occupy the space around the shaft 1, and the pinion 12 can consequently be so wide diametrically as to almost touch said shaft. By use of the means shown we can obtain, respectively and successively,about twenty-five per cent. fifty per cent, and seventy-five per cent. of the full speed. The highest speed is obtained by leaving all the brakes loose and throwing the handle 25 to the right, thus locking together the driving-shaft 1 and the drum 3. This prevents all rotation of the pinions 12, 13, and let on their axes and forces the sleeve 7 to turn as fast as the shaft 1. To reverse, the brake 19 is tightened and the gear 15 is held fixed. The rotating pinion 14 is thus forced to roll around upon the periphery of the gear 15, and thus turn the sleeve 7 in the direction opposite to that resulting from rolling within the fixed internal gear 5. The diameter of the pinion 15 must be greater than that of the driving-pinion 2.

What we claim is- I. In a planetary gearing, a driving shaft and pinion, a sleeve having a disk-formed ex- 5 5 tension and turning loosely on said shaft, a driven element fast on said sleeve, an auxiliary loose bearing-disk centered on the driving-shaft, an axis supported at its ends by said two loose disks, three pinions on said axis, two of which are situated between the sleeve extension and said auxiliary disk and the third on the opposite side of said extension and means for causing one or another of said pinions to produce rotation of said sleeve and driven element.

2. As a means for producing suitably-graduated reduced speeds from a full-speed driving-shaft, a driving-pinion on said shaft, a transmitting-sleeve on one side of said pinion and three pinions carried by said sleeve, the largest turning on that side of the driving-pinion opposite the transmitting-sleeve, the next in size engaging with said drivingpinion between the smallest and largest and the smallest revolving over said sleeve; in combination with internal gears engaging with said pinions and means for fixing any one of said gears at will.

3. In combination with a driving-gear a compact transmitting-gear comprising an exterior cylinder of uniform diameter transversely divided into four revoluble drums, internal gears of successively smaller diameters in three of said drums, a spur-gear fixed within the fourth drum, said gear having a greater diameter than the driving-gear,means surrounding each drum for holding it fixed at will, and suitable gearing engaging with the gear-wheels on said drums for producing changes of speed, substantially as described.

4. In a planetary gearing, a driving-shaft and fast pinion thereon, axes each carrying three pinions one of which engages with said driving-pinion, three internal gears, one for each of said pinions, means for holding fixed each of said internal gears and means for locking one of said gears to the driving-shaft, all arranged substantially as described so as to obtain from uniform movement of the driving-shaft three graduated lower speeds and a full speed equal to that of the shaft.

JOSEPH M. OUGI-I. MONTGOMERY WADDELL.

Witnesses:

CHAS. F. I-IALsrED, HAROLD S. MAOKAYE. 

